A Star is Born

Weston is here! We had quite an adventure with his arrival. Karene and I had been so excited to hear one of our favorite singers, Michael Bublé, that we went ahead and bought tickets for a concert scheduled just 11 days before Karene's due date (and only 5 days before the ultrasound-determined due date) . On our way to the concert at the Greek Theater, Karene started to feel some uncomfortable Braxton Hicks contractions. We started to get nervous at that point, especially since we could be blocked in with the stacked parking at the theater. Luckily, we got a parking spot at the end of one of the lines, and realized that we could escape early if we had to. We also were prudent enough to call our insurance provider and make sure that we would be covered at a different hospital if we couldn't make it all the way down to Torrance. Well, the contractions subsided a bit during the concert, thank goodness, and we had a wonderful evening under the stars with the beautiful music playing in our ears. When we got back in the car, however, the contractions started getting mean again, and worse yet, Karene had to go to the bathroom. All of this and we were stuck in some of the worst parking traffic I have ever seen! Well, we made it home and Karene decided that maybe it was just false labor. So we went to bed at about 12:30. At 2:00, Karene woke up with some painful contractions. She got back to sleep, but then woke up again at 3:00. From then on, the contractions just continued to build. We finally decided to go to the hospital at 6:00. When we got there, Karene was already dialated to a 6. I dashed to our car to get the camera, and by 7:00, Karene was fully dialated. They took forever to give her the epidural, and she had some very painful contractions. During one of these, she said "Dang" very loudly about 10 times. I was so proud of her for not swearing! Finally, the epidural came, and from there, it was just another half hour before Weston arrived. It was so amazing to finally meet the little guy! He looks a lot like Cole, but with some distinct differences in his nose and eyes. His hair is also a lot darker than Cole's was. We love him so much, and it is so good to have him here in our house (on the outside of mommy!) So, for now he's been letting us sleep 3 hours between feedings, and we sure hope that continues!